Carrie, It took me years but i got my doctor to finally arrainge my meds for nights only. I always was forgetting the morning ones, but never the night ones. So he gave up and i only take mine once a day now. I know i should take them twice a day.but i decided a couple years ago that my life was not going to be ruled by meds. No .I don't advise anyone else to do that. I did try putting my morning meds by the coffee maker for awhile. Decided it was amazing what i would'nt see in the AM.
Debra, We're having warm weather too. Maybe a sign of a warm winter.
Put my little Christms tree up.And 2 more Nativity scenes.
Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners #8
Vickie, I can't do that.
Which one Carrie? I was a very bad girl and did'nt do several things.
I can't put my pills all different places. Oh, I mean I can't take all my pills at once -- they have to be divided up.
Jim keeps all his meds in their bottles and keeps them in a backpack. He doesn't take quite as many as Carrie though. (7 morning, 3 noon, 3 evening, 6 at bedtime.) The only problem is if he can't remember whether or not he has taken a dosage. There is no easy way to check.
I thought I was safe leaving my meds by the coffee pot when there were no small children in the house. I mean, even if any of those adults have drug abuse issues, none of the meds I take could get anyone high. (NOT true, for the ones Jim takes.) Nadine has set me straight about my current medications and possible abuses.
She told me of a girl in her school who took her grandmother's thyroid meds and put asprin in the prescription bottle so they wouldn't be missed. For someone with normal thyroid function, thyroid supplement is like a super weight loss and pep pill. I've started putting my medication away when there is a lot of traffic through the house.
I don't know what I would do if I were ever to have a complex medication schedule. I would have to hire someone to keep it straight. I can't see labels so I mark the bottles of the four prescriptions I take with rubber bands to distinguish between them. I'm lucky so far. They are all once a day. There are large print/Braille pill boxes, Carrie. They are larger than most to acommodate the Braille and large print markings. You might want to check those out. The one I've seen was divided between day and night dosages and might be large enough to contain all the meds you take.
Bedtime! Bread has finally finished baking.. Have a good day, Everyone. Kay*
Now, see, if Jim decanted into boxes and the Tuesday morning was still there, he'd know he hadn't taken it. That's how we got started on these boxes.
Carrie, what about getting small LCD lights with timers? You could put one on each box and have them light up at set times. For example, the breakfast light would go on at 7:00AM and shut off at 9:00AM and so on.
Debra
Are there any signs, symbols, or shapes from your DH's work or interests that he would automatically associate with a time of day? You could paint them on the boxes or glue different tactile representations.
I think I'm gonna split them up. That way I won't have to be so macho about swallowing 11 pills at once. If I'm taking 3 or 4 pills, I'll notice if they're the wrong ones. I even have a tray to take 28 (4 x a day, 7 days a week) separate pills a week, but it was never big enough. But the gabepentin, Colace, tramadol and one other which I can't remember are the same, three times a day.
0
Carrie, I once used those pill boxes divided into dosages. I have to take mine on the move with me though. The lid came off one time and dumped all my meds out in my travel pack. Not just one dosage compartment popped open. The whole top came off. What a mess! I would use them again if I could find one that would stay closed and intact despite being jostled around. If I can't find something like that I'll have to make it myself. In a Tramadol trance, it is hard to remember sometimes whether or not you took a dosage.
We spent Thanksgiving with the GC's. I saw this on the trip up and thought it was interesting. The moon, still visible at 9 a.m.
Hope everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving and are enjoying the long weekend. Was anyone brave (crazy?) enough to shop this Black Friday? (Jim)
Jim, Our office and retail store were open yesterday so I had an automatic shield against any stray impulse to dive into the chaos. :-)
Debra
They have Black Friday sales online now. I'm brave (crazy?) enough to do that anyway. It is those LONG BF checkout lines and the store parking fiascoes that get to me. ~Nadine~
Oh, I forgot, Vickie. You probably do know chocolate vine. It is just another name for a kind of fiveleaf akebia (a.k.a. raisin vine/akebia quinata.) You're in luck. I believe it is hardy to zone 5. I'll make sure MK gets her own chocolate vine.
I still have'nt heard of this plant. But i will look it up.
It's getting to be that season for cooking chocolate everything.
Vickie
OK, they ran the article one day early. Thank you, people of Armagia.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3060/
Since you lived for a time in Texas, Vickie, it might be Chocolate FLOWER you are remembering.
http://ag.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/Berlandiera_lyrata.html
There will definitely be a "chocolate" section in the scented garden. Categorizing scents is a little harder than I thought it would be, but I'm still trying. I'm just putting those that overlap in more than one category.
Love the article, Carrie. I hope DG will start doing more regional articles. They are fun reads in addition to being informative. Most places have their interesting regional quirks when you scratch the surface. There is no end to the possibilities.
The doctor is treating Jim for pneumonia. I don't think I'm that bad, but I do have an appointment tomorrow. I just learned there is a pneumonia prevention shot you can get every few years. Duh.
Noticed this on the edge of the woods. I haven't got a positive ID on it yet, but I'm already sure it is a plant I'm going to domesticate for winter interest. I'm not seeing any berries on my holly this year. Kay* .
Do you have both boy and girl hollies?
I'm SO sorry Jim has pneumonia! I hope he has the kind that feels better soon! I went to my MD's office to see if I had pneumonia but the doc said just a VERY bad cold and gave me antibiotics. My temp's been erratic.
Kay, that's the highest praise!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Wow, you guys are all just being hammered, aren't you. :-(
Kay, that might be Nandina
That must be the problem with the hollies in the yard, Carrie. Nadine says the wild tree hollies in the woods have lots of berries. I think the nurseries should give them blue and pink bows or something. :-)
I will check, Debra. There was a nandina growing nearby once that no one liked the look of. It might have found a place it liked better and could thrive. I might have to re-think my opinion of nandina. If that is what it is, it looks very different when it's in a place it really likes. Did this serious cold make it as far west as you are. I left all the outside faucets running slightly last night to keep pipes from bursting. Jim said it made for some interesting sights this morning.
Photo: Icy monkey grass Kay*
Kay, it was 27 for the low today, but no more below freezing temps for at least a week. Actually supposed to be 76 on Wednesday. We're doing pretty good. LaNina is supposed to bring our area a warmer, drier Winter. So far, it is. :-)
Debra
THANK YOU, Debra. You make my job around here easy. Nandina it is. It was hard to believe a plant could look so sad in one place with care and then do so well on its own in another place nearby. I'll take my care and placement cues from where it is naturally doing so well. I would never have chosen such a shady place for nandina before seeing how well this one is doing.
Carrie, I think I'll do business with trustworthy online nurseries for holly in future. They usually label them as male or female. I guess holly isn't cross fertile and we have too many different kinds and not enough plants of any one type.
Feeling much better today. How are you faring? Kay didn't have pneumonia, but I'm still glad she went in and got antibiotics. She wasn't getting any worse, but she wasn't getting better either. (Jim)
Lovely photo, but a little too true to life, Kay!
I'm being hammered, that's for sure. Debra, is your body temp and BP and pulse and stuff abnormally low? We've been taking my temperature every few hours and it goes from 97 up to 99. At 99 I feel like I'm almost dead. My BP is normally 90/50 (if the person taking it can even hear it).
Ain't it the truth! ...about the monkey grass photo. I like Debra's flowers much better. :-)
How do you manage to keep functioning, Lady?! I imagine that would totally rob you of energy. All here hope and pray things will improve soon. (Jim)
Carrie, I've had high BP for 35 years. Temp is usually at 98.7. I wish I could send you some warm from down here.
Jim, happy to hear you and Kay are feeling better.
Here's a photo from yesterday. Crazy Clematis doesn't know it's mid-December. :-)
Debra
Time to start the February shrub/tree plant and transplant parade. The kid...ahem, young man who moved the white Rose of Sharon to curbside for me on Sunday will be taking this lavender Rose of Sharon to his house. Need to move it to put in the tiered planters and his mom likes it. I started digging it up two days ago. Played hooky from work this afternoon and finished--I am sooooo pooped. Think I hurt myself, too. :-) Ordered a Pope John Paul II and a Peace rose from J&P. Going to try putting them in back with the Zepherine Drouhin. Have Clematis Duchess of Albany, Veronica's Choice, and Daniel Deronda coming, too. Might put a couple of them in with the roses, which will be at the base of the two Crape Myrtles I keep thinking I'll get rid of. Won't hurt to wait and see how they all do together. If it works, will be a nice living screen between my back porch and the across-the-alley neighbors. If it doesn't, welllll, I'll try sumpin else. LOL But, for the rest of tonight, I will be remote in hand watching the dog show, both NCIS, and My Man Godfrey.
I taped NCIS. Will watch it later.
I kinda remember "My Man Godfrey" I 'd like to see it again.
I need to defrost my Freezer.
Got my Homestead Farms daylilly catalog today. Had already been looking at the Daylillys online.I'd like to have some small ones.
Thanks, Debra. It was time to re-open "Practical Matters" for the season. I can't think of a better plant to start out the season with than a Rose of Sharon. That was the one flower my Dad always insisted on having around and looked after himself. The nice thing about getting honey bees is I now have a way to sell Kay on the idea of having more of them. Bees like them. (Jim)
I do, too, and am happy the previous house owners put in the five trees. Keep thinking I'll order a blue one, but have managed to restrain myself so far. Prudent to wait until the tier planters are put in first. Thennnnnn watch me go!! LOL
Debra, you'll have so many pretty flowers! Lovely! We need a RoS when we retire and have time to fix up the back yard.
Debra, my MS is CHANGING! I'm not chronic stable, I'm chronic progressive. :( Instead of being cold all the time and never sweating (literally), now I'm hot and sweaty all the time! This is the winter DH bought me a parka, and a coat with a furry collar, and I am SO hot. Not outside when it's 3*, but the rest of the time, esp. at night. My neurologist blames some gland or something-or-other in my brain.
The pituitary gland, I would think. Body temperature and blood pressure are among the body functions it controls. I've studied that one because it also affects thyroid function. It helps me cope if I can understand what is going on. Life can be so bloody unfair! Hugs Kay*
KAY, knowing whats happening inside helps me to cope too.Anyway i just like to know things. I use to have thyroid trouble and had to take meds for it,but not anymore. I think it was Thyroxin.
The mind is something else tho. Depression is hard to quantify. There are some people who still think it does'nt exist.
((((((Carrie)))))
Is any other country doing research on MS?
Vickie
Carrie, I don't know anything to say that might help. It is bloody unfair. So, from the post, I'm guessing he didn't offer any solutions? No meds for control?
Debra
She's going to try to start me on the new oral med which I don't remember the name of, which Medicare only sometimes approves for progressive MS (it's not proven, but then what is?). If Medicare won't pay for it then I'll go back on Copaxone which is a once a day injection, hip hip hurray! I say "hip hip hurray" because the hips and thighs are really good IM injection sites.
Thanks for all the hugs. You guys are the greatest.
Here's hoping for the new oral med. Are they doing research on the new med? Sometimes the company is looking for patients that will take new meds for trial studies.
Vickie
I think the trials are done (and I wasn't eligible because I have the "wrong kind" of MS). Now they're just giving it to those of us with the wrong kind because they think it *might* help and nothing else does. Yes my fingers (and toes and eyes) are all crossed!
Discovered today that the hateful front yard grass froze up and pulls out easily. Don't think I got all the roots, so will be pulling up again when it greens out, but it was exciting. :-) Want to replace the entire front yard with a walkway from curb to front porch and the rest with buffalo grass or something like it.
Lowes clearance had six-packs of Pansy and Dianthus plugs marked at a quarter. Will see how they do in the newly cleared space. Trimmed up freeze damage on the Dutch Iris, planted the Dianthus by the Rose fence, planted the three Poppies, and the unidentified plant in a combo planter that overwintered on my porch.
Debra, I'm takeing my next vacation in your garden. Sounds more interesting than some botanical gardens. I'll even bring lettuce for your bunnies. lol. MK found another packet of a different kind of lettuce seeds today.
There's going to be lots of heavy equipment around this growing season. There is also some VERY big pines that are going to be felled. MK says she isn't going to risk losing a plant she has babied to some guy operating a grader who was inattentive for a few seconds or because a tree went down in an unexpected way and crushed things. The w/c garden, the cando container garden and my bee corner will be the only areas of real gardening this year. The focus elsewhere will be annuals and hard-scaping. New trees, shrubs and perennials will be sitting the season out in the nursery area. (We know better than to believe MK will be able to resist buying new shrubs and perennials.)
~Nadine~
I want my vacation to include both your gardens.I sure want to plant something but know there is more winter coming yet. Think my creeping phlox may be greening up a little.
I completely understand Kay,s reasoning for her plants. I bet all of us feel the same way. I remember Sheri describing her adventures with some workmen in her yard.
I walked some again today and got the bright idea of getting SIL to place some of my benches along my path so i can sit and rest to be able to walk more. Maybe i should look into getting an elctric scooter. But somehow that seems like giving in to my own mobility too soon. Tho I'm very thankful for those at Walmart.
Nadine and Vickie and Carrie and Kay and Jim, you are all welcome to vacation at my house. Only one bathroom, but we can work around that, eh? LOL
Debra
Is it an ACCESSIBLE bathroom? I'd love to, but I have to get DH to go along with the idea. Are you near a jetBlue city? The boys can use the back yard, lol!